Vacationing tourists drown in separate incidents

Two visitors to the Jewel over the Christmas holiday died in separate drowning incidents on Boxing Day. The first fatality occurred at San Pedro, Ambergris Caye when a family of four went scuba diving in the deep waters of the Caribbean Sea about eleven that morning. Thirty-one year old Noah Webster, an American engineer of San Francisco was accompanied by his wife Jessica, her father Paul Hooker and grandmother Pamela Hooker. Noah reported to police that Pamela experienced difficulties with the dive and that Paul, a resident of the state of Michigan, attempted to assist his mother. But unfortunately, Paul encountered problems of his own and he eventually drowned. The group retrieved his body and when they reached the surface, they administered CPR but it was too late; Paul Hooker was dead. His body was transported to the K.H.M.H. where it awaits a post mortem examination.

The second fatality occurred in the Cayo District when six visitors of different nationalities went tubing along the Mopan River from Succutz Village towards Calla Creek. According to Canadian National, forty-four year old Carole Naher, when the group reached near Clarissa Falls resort located along the Calla Creek Road, one of the women flipped out of her tube due to a strong current. The group, which included five women and two men, took the victim out of the water and administered C.P.R. but they were unable to revive the woman. She has since been identified as United Kingdom national, thirty-five year old Victoria Harner. Harner was transported to the San Ignacio Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival. Police are now awaiting the results of a post mortem examination.